William m



No Madel.) V

- W. M DAYTON.

RAILROAD RAIL.) l No. 289,628. PatentedlDecn l, 1883,

INVENTOI? BY ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC WILLIAM M. DAYTON, or wAU'rAoA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND WINFIELD S. BEMIS, oF sAMnrLAon.

RAILROAD-RAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 289,628, dated December 4, 1883.

Application filed May 31, 1883. (N0 model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAlVE M. DAYTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waupac'a, in the county of Waupaca and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Rails, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a railroad-rail composed of a foot of paper-pulp or similar material and a cap of steel or other durable material, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

The foot and cap may be combined by means of a dovetail joint, thus insuring :a'firm connection.

This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a transverse section of my rail. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, partly in section. Fig. 3 shows a modification.

Similar letters indicate corresponding parts.

In the drawings, the letter A designates the cap of the rail. This cap is formed of steel or other durable material, so as to resist the friction and wearing action of the wheels of the passing trains. The cap A has a stem, B, as shown.

The foot of the rail consists of a base, 0, having a tongue or vertical web, D, passing up into the stem B. Of course, instead of having the tongue D pass into the stem B, the stem B can be made to enter into the tongue D by making the stem B single and providing the tongue D with a groove, instead of having the groove for the reception of the tongue D in the stem B, as shown in the drawings. Such modification of the structure is obvious, will not avoid the spirit of this invention.

As seen in the drawings, the cap and foot are held together by a dovetail joint, the cap A thus not being capable of being placed directlyonto thebase,buthavingtobeslidlength wise into place on the base. It is also preferred to place the foot and cap into such relative p0- sitions as to break joints, or, in other words,

to have the joints of the cap come at different places from the joints of the foot, thus preventing lateral displacement. Bolts E are passed through the stem B and through the foot, and prevent the cap from'sliding along on the foot. As shown in Fig. 2, the bolt-holes in the tongue D are elongated, thus allowing the bolts E some I play, and preventing breakage or injury when the rail or part thereof contracts or expands under the influence of variations in temperature. The bolt-holes in the stem B may also be elongated, if desired, the same as the boltholes in the tongue D.

A very satisfactory device is obtained when the foot is made of paper-pulp, papier-mach, or similar sound-deadening material. The result of this is that the noise of passing trains is considerably diminished--avery desirable object, especially in case of trains passing through cities or near houses. Also, the base can thus be obtained in a cheaper manner than if the rail were made in one piece and the base had to be made of the same kind of material as is required for the cap, which is exposed to wear.

It is well known that compound rails are not new, such being already shown in the patent to Brooks, No. 79,309, of June 30, 1868, and in the patent to Ashcroft and Meakin, No. 73,282, of January 14, 1868.

In regard to the dovetail joint shown in Fig. 2, it should be remarked that the same diminishes the strength in cross-section of the lower part of the tongue D; hence, in those cases where the rail is exposed to great lateral pressureas, for instance, the centrifugal force caused by a train swinging round a curve-it isQwell to construct the rail after the manner shown in Fig. 3, whereby the tongue D is more readily adapted to resist lateral pressure without risk of breaking.

I am aware that a compound railway-rail is not broadly new; also, that a railway-rail has been composed of wooden stringers having an attached head or tread of iron or steel; but such do not constitute my invention.

Where a compound rail is composed of a metal base and a metal tread, the sound of a passing train is not deadened, while'the cost of manufacture is considerably increased beyond the ordinary T-rail, and where a rail is composed of wooden stringers having inclined sides and shoulders, to which the metal heads or treads are applied, the cost of manufacture is excessive as compared with my invention, for the reason that the wooden stringers must be formed by wood-working machinery into the shape required to fit into the metal heads or treads, while in'my invention the paper-pulp foot is compressed by molds or rollers into the shape desired, thus materially reducing the cost of manufacture, and at the same time the 5 sound of a passing train is deadened.

What I-claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv 1. improved article of manufacture, a railway-rail composed of a compressed paper-pulp foot and a metallic cap, the two united together substantially as described.

2. Arailway-rail having a foot composed of compressed paper-pulp, substantially as described.

r 5 3. A railway-rail consisting of a paper-pulp compressed paper-pulp foot having the tongue 

